The Man Who Can't Be Moved
by Blondie B. Happy
Summary: "Hey," Annabeth whispered. "What?" Percy asked. "I know who likes you." "Who?" "I can't tell you. It's a secret. You don't know her, but she knows all about you." And then she turned and walked away, brushing at her eyes with her head down. AU, AH, Threeshot. Complete!
1. Part One: Sixth Grade

**So, this is the first part of a threeshot that I hope you all will like! AH, AU, typos, and OOCness. ENJOY!**

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_People talk about the guy that's waiting on a girl  
There are no holes in his shoes but a big hole in his world_

_~The Script~_

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Part One: Sixth Grade

"Okay, class," the teacher started off, but the rest of that was a boring blur, like something off of Charlie Brown.

Percy was tired of school, and they were only a week in. He couldn't stand the sound of pencils writing on paper or the thick, obnoxious scent of Expo markers. He didn't understand the crap that the teacher wrote on the board—wait, was he in math class? He had to be; the teacher was drawing circles and cubes.

He could've sworn that he was in English about three seconds ago. He blinked. He really needed to start paying more attention, but that wasn't really going to happen. Percy was probably going to end up failing the grade or having to go to summer school, which would suck. Sixth grade was off to a terrible start, in his opinion.

Sighing, Percy turned to an open page in his notebook and began to copy down the problem that the teacher was writing, but it seemed to go on forever. And even after the teacher was done, he struggled just at copying the letters.

It didn't help that half the class wouldn't shut up. They were still all excited about what they had done over the summer, rather than doing their work. They chatted with their friends happily.

"I went to Disney World," one of the popular girls said loudly. "It was _so _much fun. I stayed in this resort hotel in a suite, and there were like ten pools."

"You're so lucky," a friend of the girl said, who was nonchalantly texting on her phone underneath the desk. "All I got to do was go to South Carolina. I stayed in Myrtle Beach for a few days, and I went to the beach, like, every single chance that I had. The water's so warm down there."

"I had to go to Ohio," said some guy. "We went to Cedar Point. It was a lot of fun, but I swear, I walked like ten miles in one day. I couldn't move my legs for days. My mom thought it was the funniest thing."

Half the class laugh, but Percy didn't even grin from his corner of the room. He continued to glare at his paper.

They thought that they're summers had been boring. Gee, walking ten miles sure must've been hard. Percy laughed inwardly. All summer he'd had to put up with Smelly Gabe's abuse, neglecting behaviors, and drinking habits while his mom worked fulltime. On most days, Percy had been working too. He delivered magazines and newspapers, walked the neighbors pets, cleaned up at restaurants.

This summer he hadn't even had the chance to go to Montauk with his mom. She'd been too busy, trying to make enough money so that they wouldn't live on the streets and so she would be able to buy Percy new clothes and school supplies.

Yeah, they thought they had it bad.

If it hadn't been for Percy's two friends, he probably wouldn't have made it the entire summer.

Grover nudged him from the desk beside his own. "Dude, you need to finish your work. Mrs. Dodds is going to freak out if you don't have it all done. I don't want any extra homework because you were too lazy to write down a couple of numbers and draw a square."

Percy grinned. Grover Underwood was one of those saving friends. The guy looked like he should be out of high school. He had a goatee and wore an old Rastafarian hat over his bushy hair. He loved to eat, something they both had in common, but his legs weren't that powerful. He had to use a cane to get around and couldn't do gym.

"I have no idea what to do," Percy admitted.

"Just write down something," he insisted. "And scribble some notes or something. Make it look like you tried."

Percy did as Grover instructed, but he wrote really sloppily, that way the mean Mrs. Dodds wouldn't be able to read his work anyway. It was a tactic he had learned from the long elementary school history classes. When he'd had a lot of homework, he would just write really badly. That way the teacher wouldn't have a clue what he wrote and give him a passing grade.

Having dyslexia and ADHD helped. It made everything more believable.

"How can you not get it?" Annabeth demanded. "It's really not that hard."

"Easy for you to say," Percy scoffed. "You've never gotten a B in your life. You think these kinds of things are fun."

Annabeth blushed a deep red from behind and then she turned around from the seat in front of him to look him in the eyes. "I want to do good in school, Seaweed Brain. That way I can go to college and get an actual job, not work at McDonalds."

"Whatever, Wise Girl," Percy grinned, knowing that it would set her off. "At least they have good fries."

She rolled her eyes.

Annabeth Chase was his other good friend, or maybe she was his enemy a little too. He didn't know much about her, other than the basics. She was really smart and lived in Manhattan with her aunt because she had some sort of falling out with his step mom. She was kind of cute, with her curly blonde hair that remind Percy of a princess.

Not that he'd ever admit that aloud. She'd ridicule him for the rest of his life.

Her gray eyes were very intimidating though. If he stared at them too long he'd get shivers down his back. They'd become friends in fourth grade after their teacher had assigned them a project. Percy had refused to do any of the work and Annabeth had ended up threatening him with scissors to his wrist if he didn't try. The teacher had ended up having to separate the two of them.

But somehow, that one little act had brought them together in a friendship of sorts over the years.

"HUSH!" screamed the wicked Mrs. Dodds from the front of the classroom, and even though Percy wasn't even being loud, she glared at him. Seriously? What had he done wrong to her? He looked away and pretended to write some more on his paper, and eventually he felt the stares leave him.

"Hey," Annabeth whispered quietly from in front of him. He glanced up to find her reading a book. She held it up so that it completely obscured her face from the front of the room. She sounded nervous.

"What?" Percy asked.

"I know who likes you!" she blurted out in a hushed voice, and the heat was creeping up her body again, flushing against her neck. She toyed idly with a page.

"Who?" Percy demanded. How could someone like him? He wasn't popular at all and most people made fun of him when they found out that he had to shop at second hand stores for his clothes. He was scrawny and not that tall, and girls never talked to him.

He glanced around at the faces of the girls in the room. Silena and Piper talked to each other, and they were both really pretty and really nice, but they didn't hang out with him that much. A few desks over, Drew was talking to her group of friends, gossiping about how much she hated Piper and Silena.

And then there was Clarisse, but he strongly doubted that she was the one who liked him. She'd hated him ever since they were five and Percy had pushed her off of the monkey bars, successfully chipping her tooth. It wasn't Hazel either, because they never really talked.

Maybe it was Rachel or Calypso, or maybe even Reyna. They were all cute and nice to him.

"Who?" he asked again.

"I can't tell you. It's a secret. You don't know her, but she knows all about you." Annabeth left it as vague as that.

Percy was about to annoy the answer out of Annabeth, but Mrs. Dodds screeched, "Mr. Jackson, if there is something you would like to say to Ms. Chase, I'm sure the rest of the class would love to know."

"Um. . ." Percy shook his head and noticed that everyone in the room was staring at him. He bent down over his textbook and Annabeth continued to read as if nothing were happening. Once everyone had gone back to the new work that Mrs. Dodds had passed out, he leaned forward and whispered, "Who is it?"

"I'm not going to tell you," Annabeth said. "She made me promise not to tell anyone."

"Can you give me any hints?"

Annabeth put her finger to her lips to tell him to be quiet and then turned around to do her work. She didn't look at him for the rest of class.

Percy looked at Grover, who just shrugged, obviously just as confused.

Once class was finally over, Annabeth had rushed out of the room, carrying all of her books, and Percy rushed out behind her, stumbling over some crumbled up trash on the ground. Annabeth kept her head down as she walked to her locker, and Percy followed.

"Give me a hint?" he asked hopefully. Curiosity killed the cat, but he had to know.

Annabeth sighed as she put in the combination. "Don't you have another class to be at?"

"Not for five minutes."

"Four now."

"Come on Annabeth! Give me a hint, please!"

Exchanging her books, Annabeth closed her locker and slumped against it. "She's in at least one of your classes, and you went to elementary school with her. She's very smart and has never had below an A on anything. She's older than you are but not by much. And like I said before, you really don't know her, but she knows all about you."

And with that, Annabeth stalked off, brushing at her eyes and heading towards science, leaving Percy standing there, not moving, and staring at her back until it disappeared from view.

He'd gone to elementary with the girl and she was in at least one of his classes. That didn't really narrow it down by much. She had never gotten below an A. There were some very smart girls at his school, because they actually tried, unlike many of the guys. She was older than him, meaning she'd been born any time before August 18th.

_You really don't know her, but she knows all about you. _

That was the part that he didn't understand, but he didn't bother Annabeth for more information. She looked as if she didn't want to be bothered by him.

So Percy left, going to class, repeating those words over and over again like some type of mantra.

_She knows all about you_.

**. . .**


	2. Part Two: Twelfth Grade

**Thanks for the support! Enjoy part two!**

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_Some try to hand me money, they don't understand  
I'm not broke – I'm just a broken-hearted man_

_~The Script~_

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Part Two: Twelfth Grade

"Go Percy!" screamed the girls from the stands inside of the small community pool venue.

Percy grinned from the edge of the pool, where he was wearing his sweatshirt and workout pants despite the warm temperature. He sat down on the bench but kept his earbuds in, listening to music and trying to clear his mind.

All he had to do today was swim the 100 meter freestyle once, and that would be that. Hopefully he would win, but considering he had one of the fastest times in the country, he felt like he had a pretty good chance.

It was a shame that Grover couldn't be there, or Frank and Hazel, or Leo. He hadn't expected Piper or Jason to come anyway, since they were always making moony eyes at each other. Hazel and Frank, though also dating, hadn't missed a single one of his matches. And Leo and Grover were usually there too.

Frank and Hazel were going out for their one year anniversary though, Leo had woodshop, and Grover had community service work in Central Park.

Yet half of the girls in his grade were in the stands. Most of them he never even talked to. In Middle School, they hadn't even glanced in his direction or smelled the air in which he breathed. High School really did change people, but Percy wasn't having any of it. To him, those girls were just annoying and fake.

They were always gossiping and looking as if Crayola had decided to punch them in the face. They talked about their expensive cars and purses that Percy didn't really give a damn about. They never helped anyone and just bullied people. They went out with guys who acted the same.

Thank the heavens that Annabeth was there.

She, of course, was sitting by herself on the bleachers, reading her collector's edition of the Underneath, a book that she had made Percy read in fifth grade. It was one of the only books he had ever finished, and only because she had annoyed him into it.

Over the years, Annabeth had seemed to grow more or less away from him. He maybe he grew away from her. He wasn't really sure. Their friendship had stayed strong throughout Middle School, but High School had caused them to sort of drift apart. Maybe it was because Annabeth was in all AP and Percy was in remedial.

But they were still friends, best ones.

In seventh grade, Annabeth had told Percy a quote that had helped him through a lot throughout the years. She really had no idea how much it had helped him out. They'd been trading classes and Percy had been talking about how terrible Gabe was to him and his mother.

"_If you're going through hell, keep going_," Annabeth had told him. "That's a Winston Churchill quote."

"Who's that?"

She'd rolled her eyes and chastised him for not paying better attention in European History class.

But that quote had helped him. Because life had been hell, and he'd just pushed forward through it all. He'd tried his best and even though everything had been really hard, he'd kept going. Really, it was all thanks to his mom and his friends with their support.

Maybe they'd started drifting apart when his mom had finally kicked Gabe out of their lives and things had started to look good for his family. Like when his mother had met Paul, or when she and Paul finally got married. Percy had been able to move out of the tiny little apartment, buy things for once. Life was pretty good now.

Or maybe it happened when Percy started dating Rachel and Annabeth started dating Luke.

Ugh. Percy didn't even like to think about those days as a sophomore. He and Rachel were still friends, but he hadn't had a girlfriend since then. Neither had Annabeth.

What would it be like to date. . . Annabeth?

No. No. She was off limits. Annabeth didn't like him. They were friends, and she showed no signs of wanting to date him. If he asked her out, that would ruin their relationship.

Percy looked up to find Annabeth staring at him. He waved and she waved back, giving him somewhat of a grin, but then stood up and began to make her way over to Percy, her book folded underneath her arm.

He couldn't help but keep watching Annabeth—with her long legs and curly blonde hair that reached down to the middle of her back and bounced a little when she walked. She wore a jean jacket over a black tank top and dark skinny jeans, and those cute little owl earrings she'd had for years. Her eyes were the same stormy, startling gray that mesmerized Percy a little.

Annabeth had really turned beautiful over the years. Wait, no, she hadn't turned beautiful. She'd always been that way.

But he couldn't keep thinking about her that way. Annabeth was definitely off limits to him. She was amazing, smart, funny, perfect in every way . . . he was the kid who couldn't pull off good grades and had the messed up childhood and abusive step father.

With any of the other girls on the bleachers, his past wouldn't have matter, especially since they really only wanted to get in his pants, but with Annabeth it did. He was the kid from the wrong side of the streets, and she knew that. She knew everything about him. If she dated him, she would only see the loser from fourth grade, too lazy to do any of this work.

It was a wonder she hadn't screwed him off a while ago.

He was determined to keep their friendship strong and alive.

"Good luck, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said, giving him a hug. Percy couldn't help but notice tiny little details that he normally never did, like how his arms fit perfectly around Annabeth little waist or how her hair smelled of lemon and—

"Percy!" Annabeth snapped, sounding slightly annoyed but somehow amused too.

Shit. He'd held onto her for too long. She probably thought he was some sort of emotional freak now. He let go of her quickly, but she popped forward and gave him a sweet little kiss on the side of his cheek. "I know you'll do great, but then again, you always do."

Half of Percy's body had shut down from that small act, but he somehow managed to keep his calm composure and wink at her. "Now, come on, Annabeth. When am I ever slow? I'm always moving. I think I'll be fine."

Some sort of something flashed across her face, and Percy was unable to place what it was. It was like disappointment and wanting rolled up into one. A deep blush spread across her face, and it looked like she was taking those words the opposite of how Percy had meant them. He didn't even know what the opposite was.

Whatever he'd said, apparently it'd been the wrong thing to say.

"Yes," Annabeth said quietly, now staring at the ground. "I'm sure you'll be fine. You are Percy Jackson after all."

Then she walked away, brushing at her eyes and keeping her head towards the ground, and the weirdest sense of déjà vu overcame Percy. It had to be some sort of epiphany, but he was transported back to one of the days in sixth grade, when he and Annabeth had been in class and then walking to the lockers.

"_I know who like you."_

"_Who?"_

"_I can't tell you. It's a secret. You don't know her, but she knows all about you."_

How could he have forgotten that conversation with her? And she'd never given him an answer to the question. For a few days after that conversation, he'd tried to bring it up with her, but whenever that had happened, she would never answer anything that he said. She'd give him those same clues as before.

"_She's in at least one of your classes, and you went to elementary school with her. She's very smart and has never had below an A on anything. She's older than you are but not by much. And like I said before, you really don't know her, but she knows all about you."_

So as Percy sat on that bench, listening to some more music, he started to wonder again who this girl could be.

Soon enough it was time for him to go into the water and do his freestyle. As he took off his shirt and pants and jumped into the water. It was pretty easy for him to block out the insane cheering from his own personal cheerleading squad, but it was impossible to block out the steady stare from Annabeth's direction.

Her eyes bored into him, like little thunder storms. They were in clear contrast to her smile, which was a little weak but still reassuring. Percy smiled back at her and jumped out of the water, waiting for the signal to go.

Percy finished first place. Water was like a second home to him, and he had gotten an all new best time, which was pretty cool to him. He heard the yelling from the girls, but that was nothing compared to what he heard from Annabeth.

But the entire time he'd been swimming, he hadn't been concentrated on the swimming itself really. That was a second, subliminal thought. He'd been thinking about those words Annabeth had spoken so long ago now. Had it already been seven years since they'd had that conversation about who liked him?

And he still didn't know?

That kind of irked him.

Percy couldn't help but wonder, and perhaps just hope a tiny bit, if Annabeth had been referring to herself. Because Annabeth had said that the girl knew all about him, and Annabeth did know most things. Did she really know everything though?

Besides, Annabeth was that kind of girl that told it like it was, and if you didn't like it, then you just had to deal with it.

So, yeah, it probably wasn't her, and there wasn't anyone else that he cared for it to be.

After he'd dried off and talked to the instructor and whatnot, he was getting ready to leave when Annabeth dropped on by. She grabbed his gym bag. "Don't worry, I got it for you."

"Jeez, isn't it supposed to be the other way around? You're making me feel like the woman in this relationship."

He really needed to think twice before talking, because that just made everything really awkward. Once they'd reached the parking lot, Percy and Annabeth hugged like friends usually did and went their separate ways into separate cars in separate directions.

And as Percy drove away, he knew one thing. He had to see if Annabeth actually liked him. Maybe he was just being delusional, but he wanted to have hope. He wasn't going through hell anymore, and he really did like Annabeth, as he had realized over the past couple of years.

But his friendship with her was important, and he didn't want that to be ruined.

**. . . **


	3. Part Three: Afterwards

**Yay! Here's the ending to the threeshot. Thanks for all the amazing support! A review is loved, especially for the final chapter. I hope you enjoy!**

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_I know it makes no sense but what else can I do?  
How can I move on when I'm still in love with you?_

_~The Script~_

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Part Three: Afterwards

Percy Jackson stood in the freezing cold outside of his apartment for a second before starting on his way.

Truth be told, Percy had always hated cold weather. Annabeth loved it though, probably because she was from California originally and never got to be in it. But he, bring a born and bred New Yorker, he hated it when the weather was cold. There was no fall. One day it was warm and the next day he was chilling his man bits off.

He took out his cell phone. In the past thirty minutes he'd made two calls and eleven texts, all to Annabeth Chase, who lived on Long Island in a small little house. Well, at least he was pretty sure about that.

Annabeth and Percy hadn't seen each other in about six months. Annabeth didn't take any calls from him. Last he knew, she was living on Long Island, but a lot could chance in six months. It all had for Percy. Not physically but emotionally.

They were both twenty two years old, out of college. Annabeth was going to go back to get her PhD, he was pretty sure, but Percy had barely been able to do what he had done. He'd gone to a community college for two years and then had transferred into NYU miraculously.

Maybe it was college that had made him somewhat smarter, or maybe he was just growing up.

"Jeez," he muttered on the sidewalk. Percy began to walk at a brisk pace, because it was a long walk to Times Square from his tiny little ugly apartment near the Lincoln Center, and it was going to be even worse in this bitter weather. Any minute it would probably start snowing.

For some reason there weren't that many people out on the streets. They must've all had more sense than Percy and decided to stay at home with their families and loved ones, sipping hot chocolate and watching movies.

Shivering and shoving his hands into his coat pockets, he kept walking with his head down towards the ground, staring at the excess trash and gum. Wasn't really a good sight but it kept the ugly wind out of his face.

After five minutes, Percy checked his phone. The recent texts that he had sent to Annabeth were up, and they included:

**4:30: **_Hey, Annabeth, will u meet me at Times Square at around 5:30 or 6? Like by the really big McDonalds and the Doubletree? I haven't seen u in 4eva and I'd like 2 catch up._

**4:35: **_Wise Girl, come on. Plz answer._

**4:44: **_I really do need 2 talk 2 u. Will u plz answer me? I miss u a lot._

It said that she had read them all, but she wasn't responding. Ah, so the silent treatment prevailed. It was the continuation of the one she had been giving him for months. She hadn't even responded to his 'happy birthday' singing back on July Twelfth, and she hadn't even dared done the same thing back to him on August Eighteenth.

So much for that tradition. Percy remembered the day Annabeth had pretty much called it quits with being his friend. It had been in June, and they'd been on Montauk. Percy still couldn't quite remember what he had said, and at the time it hadn't seemed like a big deal.

Annabeth had merely yelled, "I NEVER want to see you AGAIN!" and had stormed off. She'd been wearing her denim shorts and orange shirt, her hair back in a bandana. Yeah, Annabeth had looked freaking beautiful, even as mad as she was.

But Percy had dismissed it, because Annabeth always seemed to be mad at him, but now he realized that Annabeth had been completely serious. She was avoiding him in all ways possible.

His mother was very disappointed in him. So was Grover, and all of his other friends. He'd tried everything with her. Even when he'd gone to her house and knocked on the door, no one had answered. She had to be really pissed with him. Or maybe she too was just disappointed. Percy was in himself too.

And Annabeth was actually talking to his friends. That was the only way that he could find out anything about her anymore. But when he'd called Reyna, one of her best friends, to see if she was still there, she hadn't said anything.

"I swore to Annabeth that I wouldn't tell you a thing," she'd told him curtly, leaving him more irritated than usual. "Don't try to blame her for anything. You brought this on yourself."

That had also been the last time he'd talked to Reyna.

But now Percy understood everything. After a long time of thinking, which Percy absolutely loathed, he'd come up with a solution that he'd had to trace all the way back to sixth grade, during class, when Annabeth had been whispering to him.

_I know who likes you._

How could Percy be such an idiot? Sometimes he didn't know. How could he be so clueless? Ironically he didn't have a clue. How could he be so slow? He was just unable to be moved.

He texted Annabeth once more, but it wasn't like she was going to respond. The whole fact that he was doing this was insane and probably wasn't going to work out right. She would never go meet him out there. He'd tried before, but she was done with him. He'd been too slow, and she had finally decided to move on.

So as Percy hurried along in the brutal weather, and the snow began to lightly fall down on his shoulders, he cursed himself. He'd always liked Annabeth way too much and had been too afraid to say anything to her about it. There had always been that giant part in his mind that said that if they dated, it would ruin their relationship.

He should've been braver and just asked her out. Because the entire time, she had been silently screaming at him how she had felt. He had just been deaf.

The girl that liked him in sixth grade had liked him for a long time. It had always been Annabeth.

How in the name of all that was holy had he not realized that sooner?

Once Percy reached Times Square, he stood in between the stretch of sidewalk that connected the massive Doubletree hotel to the bright McDonalds about a hundred feet away. They were right in the light of the giant signs and shops that were everywhere. As much as Percy wanted to go to the M&M shop, he knew this was way more important to him.

Despite the cold, Percy stood there and did not move from that spot. It was just past six thirty, and he had all the time in the world.

He checked his phone. Annabeth had read his latest text. There was still no response, which hurt him, but he felt as though he deserved it. The wind blew hard against his face and his thin coat did little to protect himself. He wished that he were some place warmer, with a bright sun and not bright lights.

Time went fast actually.

An hour passed and then two. Some street vendors were just looking at him weirdly because he wasn't selling anything but he was just standing there. Percy hoped that Annabeth would come and that he wouldn't just stand there for no reason. That would suck.

He should've grabbed some pocket warmers, he realized at around eight forty five.

Percy felt like all of his limbs were frozen. By nine, the sky was pitch black, Times Square was freaking bright, the ground was completely white and stamped by footprints, and Percy couldn't move whatsoever.

Every so often he'd text Annabeth, but she didn't answer. He even called at around seven once more, but it only went to her voicemail. Percy felt so alone and so cold and like the biggest failure the world had to offer. It didn't matter that girls liked him for his face or that he'd been captain of the swim team. It mattered that he couldn't see the obvious and he couldn't have the girl that he'd secretly always wanted.

At one point, a man, one of the vendors, walked up to him. "You've been here for hours," he said. "You haven't even moved and it's in the negatives. What are you trying to prove here?"

"I'm waiting for someone."

"Well, I don't think this person gives a damn about you son. Sorry to burst your bubble."

Percy still just stood there, watching the people walk by and waiting for her face, but he never even saw her. She wasn't going to show up. Now he realized that. He should've left and gotten a Happy Meal, but his feet felt frozen to the cement. So he just stood there even longer until by some miracle, she appeared.

Annabeth looked gorgeous in the city lights, though her cheeks were red from the cold and the lashes of the wind and snow. She wore too many layers including a big brownish sweater on top that looked great. Her hair was falling out of her Yankee's cap. Nothing about her had changed. She looked surprised to even seen him there and his heart did a gymnastics floor routine.

She looked uneasy and like she really didn't want to be there. "I can't believe you're standing out here. How long have you been out here, Percy? You're going to catch a cold?"

Percy didn't know what to say because he was so shocked that she was actually here.

Annabeth tapped her foot impatiently and took a step closer to him. "Did you annoyingly text me to come here just so that you could gawk at me?"

Oh. His mouth was actually hanging open. He shut it quickly and blushed, but she probably wouldn't be able to tell with his bright cold cheeks. Now Annabeth was here, and he had no idea what he was supposed to say to her. Would he tell her that he understood, that he was sorry, that he really liked her a lot and he hadn't meant to act how he had?

"Maybe I should go then—" Annabeth began uncomfortably.

Percy, completely desperate and filled with something he couldn't acknowledge at the time, surged forward and grabbed Annabeth, who tensed up immediately. He couldn't help it. He leaned down and kissed her.

At first, she didn't do anything and Percy felt really weird kissing unresponsive lips. In fact, Annabeth was frigid and stuck in her tight position. Percy couldn't imagine what other people must've thought looking at the two of them.

But then she reached up and twined her arms around his neck, and he was shocked. Part of him had expected her to kick him, yell, "FREAK!" and then not talk to him for another six months. Yet she began to kiss him back, each kiss deeper than the last. Her lips were cold but they began to warm up under his, and they were so soft, just as he had dreamed.

Just two twenty-two year olds in the middle of Times Square in the freezing weather making out after not having seen each other in six months. It was like something from a movie.

When Annabeth pulled back, her lips were swollen, and she looked monumentally confused, something she wasn't that often. "What was that?" she demanded, but she didn't take her arms away from his neck. She toyed with the short hair at the nape of his neck absentmindedly.

"I get it now," Percy told her with a smile. "I just wish I had understood it sooner."

"What?"

"I've always felt the same way; I just didn't want to ruin our friendship. I didn't think that you even liked me any more than a friend—and sometimes I didn't even know if you wanted to be friends with me—and if I asked you out, then it might ruin what we already had. Your friendship was and is precious to me. I don't want to lose that."

Annabeth's gray eyes shone with emotion. "Seriously, Seaweed Brain?" She shoved him a little after that and he stumbled, blinking snow out of his eyes. "I've had a crush on you since sixth grade and you tell me this now!?"

"Um. . . yeah. . ."

She rolled her eyes. "And you want to date me or something?"

"That would be a yes."

"And how long have you been waiting here?"

"Since six."

She crossed her arms over her chest and eyed him. And this time he was almost positive that she was going to say that she never wanted to see him again and then she would just walk away. And then he would officially be crowned King Loser. He braced himself for a steely rejection from the girl he kind of loved.

But she said nothing.

She just turned on her heal and walked away.

Percy stopped breathing. She really was walking away and leaving him. All of this had been for nothing. He needed to go find his crown and go rename himself. His heart literally broke apart and got trampled under the millions of feet in New York City and then buried underneath the snow. He couldn't feel his lips.

He watched Annabeth walk away.

Then she stopped and turned around. "Well, are you coming or not?"

"What?" He was frozen to his spot.

"Percy, I'm going to die of hypothermia if I stay out here too much longer. I'm going to go walk to Barnes and Noble and then get some Starbucks. Are you coming with me or not? I'd love to discuss your proposal." And she was grinning at him.

Percy couldn't have followed Annabeth faster.

* * *

_And maybe I'll get famous as the man who can't be moved  
Maybe you won't mean to but you'll see me on the news  
And you'll come running to the corner  
'Cause you'll know it's just for you  
I'm the man who can't be moved_

_**. . .**__  
_


End file.
